December 31, 2003

Washington Redskins head coach Steve Spurrier resigns after 5-11 season; photos (M)

Kenneth R. Feinberg looks more fatigued than he did two years ago, when he agreed to work free as the administrator of the federal program to compensate the eligible relatives of Sept. 11 victims. The job, he now says, was ''by far the most difficult assignment'' of his legal career. But if he has worked almost nonstop, getting only three or four hours of sleep a night, Mr. Feinberg is not complaining now: 97 percent of all eligible families have agreed not to sue the airlines, government agencies or other entities and have filed death claims with his program. To date, those claims have paid an average of $1.8 million per family.

Insiders involved in process of selecting design for Sept 11 memorial at World Trade Center site say jurors have settled on two designs, but with third design still an outside possibility; say politicing and debate continues among jurors; none of eight designs in competition received majority vote from public in popular survey; photos (M)

Calisto Tanzi, founder and former chairman of Parmalat, tells Italian investigators that he was well aware of a hole of 8 billion euros ($10 billion) in company's accounts and that he informed his successor, Enrico Bondi, turnaround specialist who has been appointed bankruptcy administrator; blames losses at Parmalat's vast South American operation for financial schemes that ultimately brought down company; Judge Guido Salvini expresses skepticism about Tanzi's admissions and says they figured in his decision to refuse request by Tanzi's lawyers that he be granted house arrest; charges spelled out in original warrant for Tanzi's arrest portray him as pivotal figure in false accounting and fraud going back almost 15 years; photo of Stefano Tanzi, Calisto Tanzi's son, who is also under investigation (M)

Former Cincinnati Reds player and manager Pete Rose is releasing new autobiography, in which many believe he will admit that he bet on baseball games for first time, which was essentially prerequisite for his reinstatement in baseball; photo (M)